FTC chairman Leibowitz to step down

January 31, 2013|Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The chairman of the FederalTrade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, said on Thursday that he willstep down in mid-February after a tenure that included acontroversial decision to end a highly public probe of Google with only a mild reprimand.

Leibowitz told Reuters he will leave in the middle of nextmonth and take some time off before beginning work in theprivate sector. He does not yet have a new post.

There are four people who are considered most likely toreplace him. They include fellow commissioners Julie Brill andEdith Ramirez and Howard Shelanski, the director of the FTC'sBureau of Economics.

The fourth potential candidate is Philip Weiser, a veteranof the White House and Justice Department, who now teaches lawat the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Brill and Ramirez would not face confirmation by the Senate.

In the world of high-tech, Leibowitz will be known as theguy who took on Google, but did not win the tough settlementthat many hoped for.

Also Leibowitz pursued brand name pharmaceutical companieswho settled patent litigation with generic companies, with thebrand name companies sometimes paying the generics to delayproduction of the cheaper drugs.

Leibowitz also made online privacy an issue, pushingunsuccessfully for companies to allow consumers to choose forthemselves whether they wanted to be tracked online.

Under Leibowitz, the agency went after a long list ofsmall-time scam artists who failed to deliver on promises toconsumers to lower credit card interest rates or stave offforeclosures.